Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination and the kids names.

a/n: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter and I'm happy my cliffhanger made most of you all crazy hihi. Alright so I managed to write this second half rather quickly so you guys didn't have to wait too long to see the conclusion of what happened to Casey on that bus so I hope you enjoy it.


"Casey, report." Casey heard through his radio. "Casey, report." He heard the call again but something was preventing him from answering his chief.

Matt woke up groggily to plain white walls and a constant beeping. He felt a weight on his left side and he managed to catch a glimpse of Gabby sleeping against his arm. He tried to move it to make her know he was awake but somehow it didn't seem to want to make the action.

"Gabby?" He didn't even recognize the sound of his own voice it was so hoarse. She seemed in a deep slumber, not moving an inch so he called her again, this time, a slight twitch coming from her. She looked up at him through hooded eyes and tears instantly welled up in her brown orbs.

"Matt?" She wondered if she had been dreaming because she prayed that he'd wake up for the past three days and nothing had happened until now.

"Hey." He smiled before his lungs constricted, needing more air. He coughed and Gabby immediately got up from the chair she had been sleeping in to get him some water.

"Don't talk Matt, take it easy. She put the glass back down and smiled at him. "I'll go get the nurse." She rushed out of his room and nearly collided with Kelly.

"Is something wrong?" He held her at arms length and looked her from top to bottom.

"He's awake." She smiled as she moved out of his grasp to get a nurse, Kelly walking into Matt's room.

"Welcome back buddy." They smiled at each other and Matt went into another coughing fit, Kelly giving some water again.

"Welcome back Mr. Casey." The nurse walked in with a smile, Gabby waiting patiently by the door for her to take his vitals and make sure the IV's were all dripping properly. "You gave us quite a scare."

"What happened?" He swallowed hard.

"I don't know. We were hoping you'd be able to tell us when you woke up."

"All I remember is hearing Boden's voice over the radio." He admitted, some parts of their last save jumbled up in his mind.

"Take your time, no one is in any hurry." The nurse looked at Kelly with a firm look telling him not to push for anything.

"How are the girls?" He tried sitting up, sudden worry for them.

"They are fine. They're at your house with Christie."

"What about you? You should be with your kids." His voice was slowly returning.

"They're with Christie too. You need to rest." She insisted, sitting next to him in the chair she had been awkwardly sleeping in for the past three days.

"Christie is taking care of all five kids? And Violet?"

"It's fine Matt." She pulled his hand in hers and rubbed his knuckles.

"Alright. Mr Casey needs his rest. Just one person at the time for now." Kelly knew Gabby would stay as she had for the past three days, refusing food and barely agreed to go shower in the nurse's lounge.

"I'll go call chief Boden with an update."

"Go back to shift Kelly." Matt noticed he has his turn out pants on him.

"I got my radio on, don't sweat it." He smiled at Matt and left the room to make his phone call.

"Maybe I should check on the girls." Gabby pressed a hand to his chest, making him lie back down but Matt didn't protest because his body was still weak.

"The girls are fine and so is Christie. Cindy Herrmann has been coming to help out too."

"But." She knew why he wanted to protest, Herrmann having five kids of his own to take care of.

"No buts Matt. Everything is worked out and everyone is glad to be helping." She sat on the side of his bed and kissed his temple. "They'll just be glad you're ok."

"You look like you haven't slept in a few days." He ran his IV free hand against her leg.

"I'm fine Matt. You need to focus on getting better."

"And I need to remind you to take care of yourself." He knew Gabby enough to know that she made sure everyone else was good before even contemplating thinking about herself.

"And I am." She insisted, chuckling. "Well Shay is reminding me mostly."

"Gabby, you need to go home and get some real rest." Shay said from her spot at the entrance of Matt's hospital room.

"I can get some real rest when Matt wakes up."

"And he'll be mad that you didn't take care of yourself and I didn't force you into it."

"I'm fine Shay really."

"Come on Gabs, you're a mess. At least let me get you some shower supplies and some fresh clothes from home so your boy thinks you're hot when he lays eyes on you for the first time when he wakes up." She laughed.

"Fine." Gabby sighed. There was no use arguing with Leslie Shay. "Thanks." They smiled at each other before Shay left.

"She was nagging me every day."

"I'll have to thank her then."

"Thank me for what?" Shay walked in the room, her radio attached to her and soft crackling coming from it

"For taking care of Gabby for me."

"Anytime. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a truck." He coughed.

"Are you in pain? Maybe I can ask the nurse for some pain meds. You should be good to get another dose."

"A little bit." He admitted.

"I'll be back." Gabby got up and left the room, leaving Casey and Shay alone.

"What happened in there Casey?" She took the spot that Gabby had just vacated.

"I don't know Shay. All I remember is Boden's voice calling into the radio and the sound of my pass alarm sounding in my ears."

"Maybe you just need some time. Your body is still healing from the blast." Matt suddenly felt a familiar ringing in his ears, closing his eyes and willing it to go away. "Matt, are you ok?" She pushed a strand of hair that was now sticking against his forehead.

"Yeah I'm fine." He blinked a few times and swallowed. "Can I have some water please?" Shay filled up the glass and gave it to him so he could water down his parched throat.

"Don't say anything about this to Gabby please."

"Matt. She's worried about you."

"I know and I don't want her to worry more than she already is. Promise me you'll keep quiet."

"Fine." She growled, not liking this one bit. "I promise."

Gabby came back into the room with a nurse and some pain meds that she pushed into the IV access, everyone just waiting for them to take effect.

"Can you promise me something?" He asked Gabby as his eyes were starting to be heavy with sleep.

"Sure, name it."

"I want you to go back home and get some real sleep."

"I can't promise that Matt." She wanted to stay with him, scared that something might go wrong while she was away.

"Baby, please. I'm fine and I'll just sleep." He breathed in and out a few times, his eyes drooping heavily.

"I'll make sure she goes home and gets some rest."

"Shay." She looked at her with angry eyes just wishing she was on her side for once.

"What? Matt's right. He's all hopped up on pain meds and he'll just sleep. Maybe you should take that opportunity to go update everyone at the house, shower and sleep a bit."

Gabby looked between both Shay and Matt before she sighed deeply. "Fine."

"I love you." Matt whispered.

"I love you too." They shared a tender kiss before Matt fell asleep and Shay took a reluctant Gabby with her for a shower and a little rest.


Matt was sound asleep in his hospital bed with the help of the strong meds he had been given before Gabby left, a deep pain in his right flank just moments before. They had been waiting for the doc to show up before to at least give him a little bit info on what had happened to him in the blast, his mind clearly having trouble piecing everything together.

Severide and I were the last ones inside the bus, smoke thickening as we worked on victims that were more banged up from the crash.

"Casey, we got to get out of here soon, the smoke is too thick."

"I know Sev." I kept working on the victim that I was with. The woman was pretty banged up, a gash to her forehead that was pretty deep. I pressed on the wound to stop the bleeding but it was bleeding pretty heavily and I needed to hurry up to get her to the paramedics for some treatment.

"Come on Casey, we have to get out of here." Severide insisted as he lifted the victim he was with to the window to hand him over to Cruz that was waiting on the other side, the front door of the bus still nowhere to be opened, the guys from Squad having clearly given up on that.

I removed the fire protection equipment around my neck and applied it to the woman's head wound to stop the bleeding that clearly didn't want to. Visibility was starting to be close to nothing as the smoke thickened some more. I knew I had to move quickly but If I couldn't at least stop some of the bleeding, this woman didn't stand a chance.

"Ma'am. Stay with me, it's going to be ok." I managed to lift her body from the ground, a strong smell of gas and a loud explosion propelled both our bodies against one of the seats, pieces flying, my pass alarm starting to ring in my ears a few long seconds later, excruciating pain in my right flank and leg before everything went black.

Matt woke up with a start as memories of the crash came back to him. Hands were pushing him back down onto the bed, his wild moving from left to right in a panic.

"Hey, baby it's ok." Gabby's eyes connected with Matt's as he imitated her breathing motions to help calm him down. "Breathe in then breathe out." She instructed as he did what she told him.

"I remember what happened."

"Alright. I'll go ask for the doctor ok."

Matt nodded and kept breathing slowly to calm down. The doctor came by a few minutes later.

"I'm glad you're awake." He proceeded in doing some neurological tests to make sure that his head was intact and after checking everything, he wrote in his prescription to remove all the IV's and allow him to eat what his body felt comfortable eating and checking on both his leg and flank wound, giving the go ahead also to try making a few steps, all of that that would help him get his walking papers in a few days.

"Thanks doc." Matt stretched a little bit, his face scrunching up in pain.

"I think you should take it easy for a while Lieutenant. I don't think you want to stay here longer than necessary.

"I'll keep an eye on him, thanks Dr Welling."

"Anytime Gabby." They smiled at each other and he was out the door.

"So Gabby huh?" He smirked.

"Oh get your brain out of the gutter. I worked with him in the ER and he's the one who operated on you when you were brought in." Her eyes became misty again.

"Hey, hey. I'm ok, I'm safe."

"I know but I was so scared Matt."

I usually ate lunch with the girls from the peds unit before making my way down to the ER to see if I couldn't catch a glimpse of Matt or Shay on the way in with victims but the ER was unusually quiet for a Monday. Gabby started chatting at the front desk with the nurses there when the team started scrambling to get to an incoming patient.

"Firefighter, early thirties, right leg crushed under a city bus seat and an unknown piece of white metal in his right flank. He lost a lot of blood." Gabby's eyes connected with Shay's and she just knew.

"Matt, baby." She ran to him and held onto his hand but it was unresponsive, an oxygen mask also covering his mouth and nose. "Matt?" She called again, tears falling down her cheeks and her body struggling for some air. She followed the gurney until she couldn't anymore, a nurse stopping her in her tracks.

"I'm sorry Gabby, you can't go in there. I'll keep you updated as soon as I know anything." Shay had her arms wrapped around her shoulder, keeping her from falling to the ground."

"I didn't know what was going on or what was going to happen to you. I was a total mess." The tears finally fell down her cheeks, Matt wiping them with the pad of both of his thumbs.

"I'm fine, I promise. Come here." He pulled her to his and they laid down together, enjoying some quiet time and Gabby closing her eyes as the thumping of Matt's heart lulled her to sleep once more.


a/n: Wheww. I finally made it. Two hours and this second part is done. I hope you guys liked how it ended. Now I decided to write Matt's dream sequence in the first person because it wasn't just meant to be a flashback so we could have a better understanding of what had happened on that bus.

Next up: Matt goes back home and has a nice dinner with his sister and niece along with Gabby and her kids.

I hope you guys liked this chapter and please take a few minutes to leave a review before you go because I love reading what you guys thought of it. - Sarra